Laozi Zhuangzi

Author: Liu Qinghua Chen Fang
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-04-01
Features: "The Tao Te Ching" is a highly influential work of thought and philosophy in ancient China and world cultural history. Soviet sinologist Li Sheweiyi said, "Laozi is international," and American scholar Pu Yaoming affirmed that "The Tao Te Ching" is "a book that will be widely read in the future utopian world." The New York Times once ranked Laozi as the top ancient and modern writer in the world. However, this treasure trove of extremely rich wisdom is written in just a few thousand lines of rhyming verse. Its overly concise expression even left Sima Qian sighing, "The words in the book are subtle and difficult to understand." This is precisely the reason for our retranslation and annotation.
"The Zhuangzi" carries a strong social critique, severely exposing the brutal "human world" where "one can only avoid punishment" and condemning the rulers' inhumanity. It advocates for anarcho-communism, yearning for the customs of ancient times, practicing governance through "wu wei" (non-action), and rebuilding the "age of supreme virtue." It fiercely attacks Confucian political strategies of benevolence, righteousness, propriety, and music, calling them "deceptive words and actions that corrupt the mind and extinguish true nature." It directly criticizes Confucius and the Confucian school. As a declaration of the Zhuangzi school, "The Zhuangzi" evaluates the representatives of various political and academic views of the time, pointing out the harm of Mohism to genuine emotions, the insincerity of the Logicians' eloquent words, and the imperfection of the Huang-Lao school. It repeatedly emphasizes the unity of the world, humanity, and heaven, providing profound intellectual resources for later generations.